Urban mapping for the web

GEOG 40323

February 6, 2018

Urban mapping

Mapping cities

Link: http://urbanstudies.tcu.edu/wp-content/themes/TCU/map/

Issues with urban mapping

  • Data acquisition
  • Volume of data
  • Styling - especially at multiple zoom levels

OpenStreetMap

Humanitarian OpenStreetMap Team

  • Network of volunteers that map crisis zones in under-mapped areas
  • More information: https://hotosm.org/

OpenStreetMap data

  • Entire world available as a 47GB (compressed) XML file
  • What if you don’t want to set up the data yourself?

Mapbox

  • DC-based startup on the cutting edge of geospatial development
  • Best known for products that allow users to generate tiled maps for the web: TileMill (c. 2011), Mapbox Studio Classic (c. 2014), and now Mapbox Studio

Tiled mapping

  • To speed browsing, web maps often display map services as “tiles”
  • Tiles are defined by their zoom level and coordinates

How tiled mapping systems work

Source: Bing Maps

Innovations in tiled mapping

  • The old way: raster tiles, or tessellations of PNG images that render based on the user’s zoom level and coordinates
  • The new way: vector tiles, which contain vector data rather than pre-rendered images
    • This means that we can style the data in the tiles!

Vector tile example: Educational Attainment in America

Mapbox Studio

  • Web-based platform for generating custom vector tiles
  • Gives you access to the OpenStreetMap dataset (!) and allows you to upload your own data
  • Let’s check it out! https://www.mapbox.com/studio